If You Build It, They Will Come:

The desert has spoken. Indio, California welcomes its 13th year of Coachella, the festival camp for the first time ever teasing tweets of performers before a full-fledged lineup announcement yesterday afternoon. Small-town Ohioans-turned Madison Square Garden under-10-minute sell-outs The Black Keys will headline, alongside Radiohead and a joint performance from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. While dozens of the festival’s trending reunion moments and iconic comeback artists support, i.e. the original incarnation of Pulp, Swedish rockers Refused and an 11-year silence-breaking moment from At the Drive-In. Will this be enough to sell out the also for the first time ever not one, but two weekend gala in April?

Sexy Dragon Magic:

This week in Van Halen comeback news, David Lee Roth and crew dropped the first single from A Different Kind of Truth(February 7th), “Tattoo,” in all its strobe and slow-motion glory. “Sexy dragon magic/so very auto-biographic” Roth struts, as the now three generations of Van Halen boys, Eddie (guitar), Alex (drums) and Wolfgang (bass) glam-shred it up with the same black-and-white filter from their original comeback announcement. It’s kind of refreshing in its simplicity, despite being shot at L.A.’s Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Plus there are balloons.

Good Winter:

The Wisconsin orchestral-folk poster child of Bon Iver, Justin Vernon, hot off top-notching critics’ lists abound with 2011’s Bon Iver, dissing the Grammys and developing workout plans has launched his own label, under the Jagijaguwar imprint, the label on which he currently resides. Dubbed Chigliak Records, a website popped up yesterday with a mission statement of sorts, reports Rolling Stone, but has since been stripped bare to just a logo. The statement detailed that the label with feature records that were “never commercially released” or “locally released [in Wisconsin] and never put out on vinyl.” While Vernon did tell Pitchfork back in 2010 that the first record that he’ll drop will belong to a band from Eau Claire called Amateur Love, Bon Iver tour mate Sarah Siskind and Minnesota band 12 Rods. Also, the name “Chigliak” is from a character on Northern Exposure in case you did not know such a thing.

The Station Is Now Operational:

In cryptic tweet fashion, early 90s Texas punkers At the Drive-In have announced their return to the stage, typing, “ATTENTION! To whom it may concern: At THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS…NOW…OPERATIONAL.” The tweet preceded an announcement from Coachella, citing the band as part of the festival’s lineup. Disbanded in 2001, frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala told Drowned in Sound back in 2009 that they “just have to iron out a lot of personal things.” Though such personal things spawned Mars Volta and Sparta, as members threw their energy into other projects. Here’s to hoping it’s not a one-off show.

Lyricapsule:

The “hardest working man in show business” a.k.a. James Brown scored a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame on this day back in ’97, which gives us another reason to spin “(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” and remember the level of funk that no one since has been able to trump. Except for Clyde Stubblefield, who’s still alive and is responsible for most of Brown’s backbeats and decades of subsequent uncredited hip-hop samples. But back to Brown, “soul brother number one,” “Mr. dynamite” and genius-fever howling “Sex Machine,” sweating out, “Get on up/Stay on the scene/Like a lovin’ machine.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TkScE05tYU&feature=fvst

Patrick24

Solid lineup!

About Gavin Paul

Gavin Paul is SONGLYRICS' Editor-in-Chief. Chicago-bred, New York-sculpted, his words and ideas have appeared in publications ranging from Spin and Rolling Stone to The Chicago Sun-Times and Arborist News.